Android strings.xml Best Practices?

Question

I'm asking myself a couple of questions and im wondering if there are any best practices.

1. How to name the string? It's always ending in chaos for me.
2. How to keep translations in sync? Are there collaborative online tools you can recommend?
3. How to order the string in the strings.xml file? Alphabetical? Grouped by Activity? ...?
4. What about reusing strings? Would you recommend using multiple slightly different string or one string that somehow fits in multiple contexts?

Answer 1

I'm still new at this, so I was looking for an example project. Astrid is open source on Github, and looking through the projects res directory was eye opening for a newbie like me.

Good stuff. Take a look:

https://github.com/todoroo/astrid/tree/master/astrid/res/values

Answer 2

The best place to check out conventions would most likely be within the Android SDK samples. Here's how you can find them -http://developer.android.com/tools/samples/index.html

Answer 3

Nice question. Im struggling with this too. My naming scheme is:

1) UI elements: If a string only corresponds to a ui i name it accordingly to the control element and the purpose, as well as in which part of the control element it is used. example:

button_helpText;
control : button, purpose: help, context: Text;

2) General elements: If a string is used on the UI but i want to use it in another context i just leave the prefix and add a postfix to describe the purpose / context mor precise.

helpMessageHeading;
purpose: help; context: a Message (abstract, could be a dialog), context_of_dialog: Heading; (the heading of a help dialog)
helpMessageText;
purpose: help, context: a Message (abstract, could be a dialog), context_of_dialog: Text; (the text inside a help dialog)
helpExplanation;
purpose: help; context_of_help: Explanation (just a explanation of the help topic)

3) Ordering: I order those string mainly based on their context as it is what you normally search for.

<!-- buttons -->
...
<!-- dialogs -->
...
<!-- general -->
...
<!-- explanations -->
...

and so on. So my list is normally seperated in UI controls and, if a string is not bound to it, its general precise context. Why do i use the precise context ? when you search for a string to describe what you do the most unique idea about this string is its precise context, so thats what should pop up first. But when you use auto-completion you normally search for the general description. i think this structure is a fine solution.

I im very interested in other answers.

Answer 4

How to keep translations in sync? Are there collaborative online tools you can recommend?

For me, the best tool is http://www.translatekarate.com

It is free and collaborative.

Answer 5

How to keep translations in sync? Are there collaborative online tools you can recommend?

At the moment I'm using this collaborative tool http://www.getlocalization.com/ which makes life a lot more easier and is free if using no pro features.

Then there is also https://crowdin.com/ which is a bit better in my opinion becuse ist proposes translations by google and bing but costs 9$ in the cheapest variant.

How to order the string in the strings.xml file? Alphabetical? Grouped by Activity? ...?

Up to now, I didn't order them because I mostly don't edit my xml by hand. There is a plugin which makes handling multiple translations in eclipse very easy: Sequoyah localization Editor

Answer 6

How to keep translations in sync? Are there collaborative online tools you can recommend?

I use the project management tool https://poeditor.com to translate XML files and keep them in sync.